Safety of Practicing CESA

[diverrobs]

My buddy and I were out with a really experienced diver in the quarry last week. He has his DM and years in the navy. He has 1600+ dives. We did some practicing of CESA without our Regs in our mouths from 20' to the surface. Me and my buddy had no issues and I found the exercise very good experience as I really got a feel for how much air comes out of your lungs as you ascend from 20' to the surface (largest pressure change). I took about 20 seconds to get to the surface and made sure I hit the surface with my lungs empty.

My question is, "How safe is practicing CESA?" Obviously we did this OW class (actually the instructor had us do it with regulators in from 40' to 20', I don't know if this is PADI standard for CESA). It is my understanding that as long as the airway is open it is pretty hard to hurt yourself and that as long as I keep making sound, the airway is open. My buddy and I want to practice this more and I just want to make sure we are safe.

 

[Gombessa]

Talk about your can of worms!

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/182061-why-dont-we-emphasize-cesa-more.html

 

[hypertech]

What you did isn't even how I learned to do a CESA.

We were tought to ALWAYS keep our reg in our mouth. As you come up you might get another small breath out of the tank as the water pressure is reduced.

As long as the reg is in your mouth and you ascend at the proper rate, I don't see why it wouldn't be safe. If you run out of air, just take a breath.

 

[scubajcf]

Good to see you are practicing skills.....

A few tips when practicing CESA ... safely:

Multiple ascents and descents are not good in a single dive. If you are going to practice CESA, do it after an extended safety stop at the end of your dive.

Additionally, it shouldn't take "about" 20 seconds to hit the surface. It should take "at least" 20 seconds. In my opinion it should be 40 seconds.

Never take a regulator out of your mouth. The fact is, I would rather gag on a dry regulator with no air in it than suck down the entire quarry. I know of no agency standard that trains for a CESA/ESA with the regulator out of your mouth.

Practicing CESA in a confined water with no Scuba is a great way to improve your skin diving skills and your CESA skills. Simply, skin dive down to the bottom. Compose yourself and CESA back up, breathing through your snorkel. This is a great way to hone your timing. And, without compressed air, if you go too fast, it's ok. You have no compressed air expansion in your lungs. Plus, since you are not on Scuba, multiple ascents/descents are not an issue.

Of course, when practicing skills like this, always practive with a buddy and only one of you at a time.

Good luck, stay safe!


jcf


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[trtldvr]

As others have said, please keep the reg in your mouth!

Another way to practice the cesa during a dive is to do it horizontally instead of vertically. Slowly travel 20 to 40 ft while slowly exhaling. You decrease many risks substantually, and you will probably find this more challenging.

Safe dives
trtldvr
www.divealive.org

 

[String]

Surely would make more sense practicing air sharing, buddy breathing and gauge monitoring. Then you'd never needs cesa.

 

[goodformeto]

I went through PADI OW in '94 and we did CESA from 40+ feet w/no regulator. I should clarify that we went down 1 on 1 with the instructor locked arms and regulator in hand, but that was one of the longest minutes of my life.

 

[diverrobs]

OK so Reg in for this practice and keep buddy close.

We always practice sharing air, shared air mask off ascents, buddy breathing (no ascent), and monitor our air frequently (in the quarry). CESA is just anouther skill we would like to have. I have no desire to have an OOA emergency but crap happens, I just want to be ready for crap. I have already seen several free flows in cold water, should that happen to me or my buddy. I want as many tricks in my bag as possible.

Thanks for all the input. I am sure it is not that dangerous and becomes less so with more practice (hence the need for practice). I hope I never need CESA and never expect to need it but its nice to know I have an emergency fail safe, go for the surface while doing CESA. (I don't have any desire to do anthing tech/DECO with a mere 35 dives under my weight belt).

 

[trtldvr]

If your concern is a free flow, try breathing off of a free flowing reg. NAUI teaches this in basic open water. I don't know if PADI does. If you have never done it you may want to have an instructor or DM show you how. I would suggest kneeling in shallow water in case you don't get it quite right at first.

I commend you for placing an importance on practicing skils.

Safe dives
trtldvr
www.divealive.org

 

[hypertech]

PADI teaches it. It would probably be good to have someone show you as it is an easy skill but difficult to describe.

I would second the recomendation on shallow water as in barely below the surface. I was amazed at how fast the free flow exercise drained the tank.